Open floor plans are in. In fact, is is one of the most highly sought after traits in both rentals and for those seeking to purchase real estate.

There is a new trend emerging though. Homeowners who already live in open-concept homes are saying they are staring to miss the walls according to Realtor Magazine.

With an open floor plan, a kitchen, living room, and dining room are often one large open space.

“Buyers are moving away from uninterrupted views,” Loren Larsen, a real estate professional with Compass in Boston, told The Boston Globe about what she is frequently hearing from clients. Her clients, she says, no longer want their kitchen, along with its dirty dishes, on display.

Life can also be too loud in open concept living, says Bob Ernst, president of FBN Construction in the Boston area. The family togetherness that open concepts bred may ultimately be too much togetherness to some homeowners now. Parents find it difficult to watch adult TV programs if their school-age children are not in their rooms, or to conduct a work call in private.

However, some homeowners may be struggling to voice their dislike of the open concept. “The message [of open concept living] is so powerful that to admit you don’t want to live in a house as open as a soccer field is to reveal something shameful,” The Boston Globereports.

What do you think about open floor plans vs. walls?

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you an owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

Wow! This bathroom series is hot! We think this huge trend will be one of the most popular yet.

One way you can make this vital room in your house be not only a necessity but a place of comfort and peace for you and your guests is to make it feel like a spa.

Spa Features

Little luxuries are not just reserved for spa days and vacations. More and more bathroom brands are introducing products that bring pampering into our own bathrooms. “Homeowners are increasingly interested in creating spa-inspired home bathrooms that offer an escape from their busy lives,” says Katty Pien, Chief Marketing Officer for LIXIL Americas.

DXV (a LIXIL brand) recently debuted Aqua Moment, a bathtub inspired by Japanese hot springs that comes complete with chromatherapy lighting and a waterfall system that cascades over the shoulders. This kind of relaxation, Pien notes, “is the perfect balm at the end of a busy workday spent in front of a computer screen.”

It doesn’t have to be a spa, it just has to feel like a spa. One tip you can do to accomplish this is rid clutter. Put things away in drawers and cabinets. Spas are generally clean and minimalistic in nature.

Spas feels calm, relaxing and as if there is room for you in there. So much, you never want to leave. Enjoy!

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you an owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

Is it that time in life where you house is just too much for you? Perhaps you are ready to downsize but you aren’t ready to sell your existing home yet.

Converting your home to a rental home, might be the perfect choice for you.

To minimize the cost of maintaining your new rental home, you might want to consider some of these options:

Select durable materials

As you repair or improve parts of your home, select durable materials. Tenants can put a lot of wear and tear on your home. Durable materials will last longer and require replacement less often. For instance, linoleum floor can easily get damaged, whereas tile is more durable and resistant. Laminate flooring may hold up better than carpeting. Furthermore, if a section gets damaged, you can replace just that section rather than the whole room.

Use low maintenance options

In addition to durability, consider low maintenance products. For example, wood decking may need repair and painting every few years. Composite decking, on the other hand, wouldn’t require any ongoing maintenance. Although you may spend more money up-front for some items, you will spend less money and time in the long run.

Simplify landscaping

Landscaping can be a very time-consuming task. It’s a rewarding one when you take care of your own home, but you probably don’t want to visit a rental property every week to work on landscaping there. Reduce the amount of time, energy, and money needed to maintain rental properties by simplifying the landscaping. For instance, select plants that don’t require constant pruning and trimming. Remove or relocate excess plantings. Mulch and segregate areas in a manner that make it easy to maintain.

We will help you understand all the ins and outs of your legal responsibilities and help you manage the property and the rental home process.

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you an owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

We had so many great responses to our last bathroom trend post we decided to do it again. Let’s spruce up the most-used rooms of the house.

Now some of you might like this next hot bathroom trend and some of you may not. That is alright, you get to do what you want in your home. If you are renting, remember to ask for what you want as far as the mechanics of the house and them decorate to make it your own. You can do a lot by simply decorating. This is all part of making your house a home!

Statement Art

You want every room in your home to be beautiful, so why not infuse a little character into your bathroom with a focal-point piece of art? Andrea Stanford, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Society 6, says she has started to see more user-generated content showcasing creative ways to display art in the bathroom.

“Given its basic nature and sometimes lack of windows, people are seeking to insert color and texture into their bathroom,” she says. Consider different sizes of artwork and unique framing and mat options to make the biggest impact. Because moisture is inevitable in a bathroom, we don’t recommend hanging a priceless work of art, but posters and prints from online retailers are approachable options for injecting color and personality into your space.

If you were to decorate with statement art, what would you pick? Colors, theme, genre, etc? Please comment below!

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you an owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

More homeowners plan to spruce up their main home and their investment properties/rentals this year,but a lot of things can go wrong—particularly financially—when setting out to do a home remodel. More than a quarter of home renovation projects go over budget.

Some of the biggest budget breakers for owners completing a home renovation project, according to a new infographic from Job Site Image, a company that offers construction photo documentation, are:

Choosing more expensive products or materials;

Products or services were more costly than expected;

Deciding to change the project scope or design;

Project was more complex than expected;

Discovering unexpected construction-related issues.

To help avoid costly mistakes, make sure they do plenty of prep work, take a full assessment of the home and its walls, and consult a professional when necessary.

In 2018, most homeowners planned to tackle at least one home improvement project.

The three r’s start with: 51% were going to renovate.

What’s next? 48% were going to redecorate.

This is the painful one (were going to be the keyword) 34% were going to do repairs.

Did you know? 1 in every 4 home renovation projects goes over budget.

So not only are you stressed out by the task at hand but now your wallet is uncomfortable too.

How do you avoid costly mistakes?

Contractor when a renovation is too big, or too difficult to do it yourself (DIY).

Home inspector to find problems before your renovation begins.

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you an owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

When you think of your home, there are a few places that guests will generally go.

Guests will normally hang out in your living room, eat the food being served in your kitchen and most likely, visit your bathroom at some point during their visit.

We thought it would be a good idea to show you some of the hottest 2019 bathroom trends.

Matte Black Finish

Whether you mix finishes or go for a matching look, using black as a bathroom accent can totally change the look of your space. Against a light backdrop, a stylish matte black showerhead is sleek and sophisticated. Adding a matte black faucet or vanity hardware can be equally alluring.

“Consumers continue to be drawn to incorporating dark accents into their spaces,” says Jessica Birchfield, Senior Industrial Designer for Moen. “They want unique finishes that make a statement, which makes matte black an ideal choice.” As a response to rising consumer interest, Moen expanded its matte black bathroom offerings, including their new Doux bathroom suite, and added a matte black finish option to some existing lines.

Wood Vanities

Whether driftwood, reclaimed barn wood, or a stunning shade of stained wood, the use of the natural material in bathrooms is on the rise. San Francisco-based designer Kriste Michelini says client interest in wood vanities specifically has increased.

“I notice that more clients are looking for clean, light spaces that aren’t sterile,” she says. “Introducing a beautiful maple or even a natural driftwood adds dimension and a soft, comfortable feeling.” She adds that the influence of hygge could be behind the increase. “I think the Danish influence has definitely taken hold on bathrooms. It is all about making your space cozy and celebrating simple things.”

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you an owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

To do that, you have to send the message that renters will benefit more by moving into your community than they will somewhere else. Many property managers can compete by offering competitive rental prices or by building upon the advantages of a desirable location.

However, you can’t always compete on price, location, or other traditional benefits. You also may not have the budget to offer high-priced amenities that can draw in renters. In this case, you might have to get creative in order to stand out from your competitors.

1. Incentivize with Cash Back for Good Renters

Tenants who constantly pay their rent late or damage property end up costing you money. Instead of just punishing renters who violate the terms of their lease, why not reward your best renters? Some property managers have begun to offer a cash-back deal. Typically, they offer about two percent of all rent paid if tenants pay on time for six months and pass a property inspection.

For instance, a renter who pays $1,000 a month could qualify for a check for $120 at the end of the term you set. Alternatively, you might just offer to shave that amount off of the next month’s rent. This kind of incentive can help you save money and give your best renters a reason to stick around.

Perhaps you have a lobby that isn’t very utilized or an outdated rec room that isn’t used. Think about turning the room into a shared workspace. To get started, free WiFi is key to making it easy for residents to seamlessly go from their apartment to this work hub with their devices. And since remote employees rely on their smartphones and laptops, there’s no need to worry about installing additional phones or landlines. Get the workspace furnished with a few tables and chairs, perhaps a couch and coffee table for those who like to relax with their laptops to work. Before you know it you’ll have a communal place for renters to step outside of their home and get work done. If the space becomes highly utilized by your remote working residents, think about adding a coffee maker or water cooler to improve it even more.

Community Gardens and Rooftop Farms

Consider setting aside minimal funding for a community garden that your renters can share. If you don’t have extra land to spare, you could also consider installing rooftop gardens. You might need to invest in the initial startup costs but then you can encourage your residents to form a local gardening club to handle the rest of the details.

Community gardens can help renters form a committed community of residents, too. They might enjoy gardening and are sure to enjoy the fresh produce they grow. They also might enjoy donating part of their produce to a local food bank or selling it to other residents for money for supplies for the next year. Either way, you can certainly promote this healthy activity on your social pages to help you attract more renters.

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you a owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

Today I spent a few minutes online looking for some cute Valentine’s Day ideas for myself and wanted to share for those in your household too.

I was looking for some cute DIY valentine’s that you could do for your special someone or for some special clients in your life.

Cellophane bag candy grams

These are perfect for gifting to your friends or your sweetheart. Your message can say anything from I love having you as a client to you make my heart pop. Have fun with this simple, easy way to say I am grateful for you.

This might be one of my favorite ones: Hot Sauce!

A simple bottle of hot sauce repurposed to make someone feel super special.

Some saying might include: Hey hot stuff, You are one hot commodity, or I know you are one hot client to have, thank you for allowing me to be your vendor of choice.

No matter how you celebrate, I hope your 2019 Valentine’s Day is wonderful regardless of if you have a sweetie to share it with or not.

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you a owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

The paint manufacturers have released their 2019 color forecasts, and we couldn’t be more excited about their color predictions for the year to come!

Neutrals take a warm spin this year, leaving cold shades of gray behind.

Moody blue, brown, and burgundy paint colors are on the rise, as well as grounding shades of black.

If you’re looking for the perfect paint color, you will find beautiful inspiration from these forecasted colors.

“Moody” might not be what you want to hear when it comes to weather forecasts and the stock market, but when it comes to picking a paint color, the moodier the better!

Rich, dark, and complex colors like chestnut brown, deep burgundy, and charcoal blue are considered moody because of their velvety appearance and complex undertones. This provides layers of rich depth that we don’t always see with traditional colors.

These rich colors are a great way to make a dramatic statement on cabinetry or accent walls, and in small bathrooms for a den-like appearance.

Paint manufacturers take a close look at all aspects of society, including fashion trends, architecture and global influences, as they form their yearly color forecasts.

Even our increased use of smartphones and devices is a factor that color experts note can play a role in the paint colors we gravitate towards.

Serene colors reminiscent of the sky, nature, and the ocean are gaining popularity with consumers. This is a way to balance and relax our overstimulated eyes at the end of the day. Look to muted blues, greens, grays, and browns for a calm nature affect.

So no matter if you are seeking moody blue or muted nature, these are some of the hot paints in 2019!

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you a owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.

In the real estate market, it can be touch to get an edge on the competition. One of the best says you can differentiate your property from another is through amenity offerings. It the extra “bang for your buck” that tenants are seeking out today. Not only that, but it gives current tenants a reason to stay.

The great part of this for property owners is that you are full control of what the amenities are.

Most people when asked what they are looking for when it comes to picking a place to live, want to LOVE how it feels. Coming home from a long day’s work or from a business trip is appealing when it is somewhere you love to come home to.

Do your best as a property manager to communicate with your tenant. Check on them, mail them updates, and let them know you are available if they need you. If you don’t have time to do that, perhaps hiring a property management company is a good avenue for you to consider. After all, that is what we do. We do routine inspections to ensure the tenant is taking care of your property, that rent is paid online, that all service or maintenance requests are kept up to date and that your tenant will be the perfect person to take care of your space for years to come.

All my best,

Teresa

Picket Fence Properties, located in Windsor, CO is Northern Colorado’s Top Notch Property Management company helping owners with their rentals, income/investment properties and vacancies in Northern Colorado. Are you a owner of a home for rent or that you’d like us to manage? We help you have the perfect tenants in NoCO. Are you looking for somewhere to rent in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, Wellington, Eaton, Evans, Windsor, Frederick, Firestone? Look no further, we have all your real estate and rental needs covered. Check out website for vacancies today.